I'm currently using an older (5 years now) 15" Macbook Pro (2.33GHz Core-2 Duo and 3GB RAM). It's slooow. Sometimes in PS I'll get the beach ball for 10, 15, 20 minutes. I like OS X, but I'm on a budget and I can probably get a better performing computer for less money if I go PC (desktop, this time--will keep the laptop for travel, ingesting photos, etc.). So is Linux a viable option?

Linux is certainly a viable option, but I would not advise it if you intend to use windows programs (via Wine). Fortunately, for most computer tasks, native Linux software is available and free.

So:
-if all you want to do is browsing, email, word processing, spreadsheets and simple photo viewing or editing: fine
-if you depend on commercial software like photoshop: not really an option
-if you are into geeky stuff, powerful but cryptic photo mathematical processing, scientific work, programming: first choice.

I had absolutely no luck trying to get PS7 to run under Wine on Ubuntu 9. something a few years ago.

I really dislike using GIMP, just from the UI perspective, so thought I'd try something else. Didn't work at all. It would load and launch, but almost everything caused the UI to freeze requiring a reboot.

I gave it up after a couple of days and reformatted the drive and installed Win7.

If your workflow can also be done using bibble as raw-converter and gimp for editing there is still a possibility. There is a trial version of bibble available and gimp is for free, so at least it is possibe to try and see if this turns out to be a solution for you.

I use gimp on a win7 laptop at home, but I used it on Linux as well. It worked for me.

And another option for Linux is RawTherapee. It comes in a number of Linux builds, so there is probably something usable to be found there.

RT is a very capable opensource Raw converter, but it also processes TIFFs and JPEGs used as input. It also offers some features that most other Raw converters don't offer, but which can help image quality tremendously. It also allows to use deconvolution sharpening, which effectively removes the slight blur introduced by Anti-Aliasing filters and restores some resolution.

It has been my experience that apple is a little enthusiastic about what hardware will support OS updates. If you've installed Lion, try downgrading to Snow Leopard.

Another reason why a mac might slow way down is because the hard drive is nearing capacity. Both Mac OS and Photoshop rely a lot on hard drive space, with less space available processes are put on hold until space is available. Often times buying a large, fast hard drive with maximized RAM will help considerably.

Often simply doing a clean install will also help performance. I also suggest that people partition their hard drives, if not use a second hard drive for PS scratch disks. Scratch disks are constantly being written to. So it might be a good idea to keep it separate from your primary disk space.

Thanks again, All. At this point, I think I'm too tied into Lightroom>Photoshop+plugins and Painter to switch over to entirely new software. I use HDR, the new dodge/burn tools, and the mixer brush quite often in PS.

Btw, Adrian, what do you mean by "this kind of stuff:" disk management or photo editing? I'd have to learn to use Terminal in Linux, but don't think it would be a problem. I'm an old programmer who learned on punch-cards, and spent many years programming in DOS, then Windows, and for a few happy years on a NeXT Cube with NeXT Step. I have a little experience with Unix, but not much, and it was a long time ago. Windows is probably my least favorite operating system (though haven't used it since XP), followed by OS X, OS2, and NeXT Step. Haven't used Linux, so don't know where that would go (oddly, I don't even think of DOS in the same way).

Also, Shawn, I'm using Snow Leopard, and there's nowhere to go with RAM--my laptop will only take 3GB. I have about 30GB of free space on the internal HD, and have an external drive I point PS at for it's scratch drive that has about 500GB free.

Again, thanks to everyone, but it still looks to me like I'll end up with a PC running WIndows.

Not that I want to dis' Adobe or leave them, but their prices are now so high and upgrades are gravitating beyond affordability. I wish more effort was put into open source software so that we don't have to keep peddling like hamsters on a treadmill, getting nowhere. Yes, they have wonderful features, but it's now astronomical. If more people cheat and used cracked codes, I'd not be surprised. I haven't used GIMP but would love an alternative to Adobe.

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Btw, Adrian, what do you mean by "this kind of stuff:" disk management or photo editing? I'd have to learn to use Terminal in Linux, but don't think it would be a problem. I'm an old programmer who learned on punch-cards, and spent many years programming in DOS, then Windows, and for a few happy years on a NeXT Cube with NeXT Step. I have a little experience with Unix, but not much, and it was a long time ago. Windows is probably my least favorite operating system (though haven't used it since XP), followed by OS X, OS2, and NeXT Step. Haven't used Linux, so don't know where that would go (oddly, I don't even think of DOS in the same way).

Well, I bet you can indeed do what is necessary, but it will take time to learn a new OS with its own file structure, command set, and program package. Not only that, but you have to pick a "flavor". (I recommend Linux Mint 9, but in less than a year, a new 3-year-release is out)

From there you can build a virtual machine to act like Windows, and run your programs just as if you were actually using Windows. If you've made a virtual machine, that's all you're doing. It's almost exactly like Unix in that regard.